Education Bill

Lord Elton Excerpts

Monday 4th July 2011 Grand Committee

I have explained why the Government believe that, in the rare cases where they think it appropriate, schools should, following careful consideration, be able to insist that their decision to exclude should stand, despite the findings of a review panel; and how a financial penalty would then be payable. Over the longer term, it is the exclusion trials, which we discussed earlier, where schools retain responsibility for excluded pupils, which offer us a new way forward for encouraging early intervention and, we all hope, reducing exclusion. In the light of this explanation, I hope that my noble friend Lady Walmsley may feel able to withdraw her amendment.

[Lord Elton]

May I ask a couple of questions of my noble friend? First, he referred throughout to permanent exclusion. The word “permanent” does not seem to appear in the text of the legislation. The direction was given to the Secretary of State in setting out the regulations, leaving it open to him to decide what sort of an exclusion the panel might make a judgment on. I assume there are important administrative reasons to minimise the appeals as well as practical ones. If it is an exclusion for a week or a fortnight, it will be over before the appeal is heard. For permanent exclusion, that is a different matter. Secondly, I would like to ask the question the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, was expected to ask and did not: what is to become of pupils excluded from a PRU, particularly if there is only one PRU available in an area? Thirdly, I am puzzled not to have received representations—I may be unique in this—from the head teachers’ organisations and I wondered whether they had expressed a view.

[The Earl of Listowel]

Before the Minister replies to those questions, perhaps it might be helpful to ask another question for information. How do the numbers of exclusions break down between primary schools and secondary schools? He may already have mentioned that but I would be grateful for that information.